SIX ACCUSED OF MURDERING THEIR FRIEND

Bobby Kent felt the knife pierce the back of his neck and turned in panic to his lifelong friend. "Marty, Marty, help me," he shouted.

Instead of helping, Martin Puccio Jr. plunged a knife into Kent's stomach as five other friends closed in to help kill Kent, detectives said on Monday.

Kent, 20, was found floating face down in a canal on Sunday in the 17200 block of South Post Road, a desolate stretch of road in far-west Broward County. He had been stabbed repeatedly and beaten with a baseball bat and lead pipe before being thrown into the water -- alive, but dying -- the Broward Sheriff's Office said.

Puccio, 20, was one of six friends who conspired to kill Kent, a surfer, weight lifter and clerk in a supermarket deli, deputies said.

His body was found after detectives were led to the murder scene by one of the admitted plotters, Derek Dzvirko.

"Each one of them brought to the conspiracy their own motive," Scheff said.

"Martin and the victim were friends, but several things happened recently that must have changed that. This plan had been brewing for about three weeks, but it was Puccio's idea."

Scheff said: "They brought Kent over there for the sole purpose of killing him. They decided finally, as they say, to 'Just do it.' He begged for his life but he had no chance."

After Kent was stabbed in the neck and stomach, he tried to run, pleading for his life, Scheff said, but he was chased down and beaten senseless with the bat and pipe.

"They were all surprised how difficult it was to kill somebody," Scheff said.

Arrested on Monday were Dzvirko, 19, of Pembroke Pines; Derek Leon Kaufman, 20, who lives near Weston; Lisa Marie Connelly, 18, of Pembroke Park; and Donald Semenick, 18, of Palm Bay in Brevard County. They are all jailed on first-degree murder charges.

Alice Jean Willis, 17, also of Palm Bay, was also charged with first-degree murder. Because of the seriousness of the charge, deputies identified her even though she is a minor. Willis has been turned over to the custody of juvenile authorities.

"On Wednesday night, Bobby said he was going out to meet some friends," said Fred Kent, 48, Bobby Kent's father. "He shaved and put on cologne and they picked him up at about 11:30. At about 4 the next morning, I got a phone call. He said 'This is Marty.' He said he was calling to see if Bobby was home yet."

Bobby Kent did not come home that night, and his father, who said his son always called, filed a missing person's report with the Hollywood Police Department on Thursday afternoon.

Fred Kent was at a loss to explain what happened between his son and Martin Puccio Jr., who lives just five houses away.

"After 14 years of friendship, I can't believe this. (Martin and Bobby) spent 99 percent of their time together," he said. "I fixed them sandwiches and dinners. They have been together since they went to Hollywood Hills Elementary School."

On Sunday, Dzvirko's uncle called the Sheriff's Office to say his nephew had information about a murder that had occurred several days earlier. Homicide Detective Frank Ilarraza met with Dzvirko at the uncle's home.

Dzvirko told Ilarraza that he and his friends all planned and participated in Kent's murder.

He said the group decided to get Kent to a secluded area and stab and beat him to death. Dzvirko said he got a baseball bat to use on the victim.

Kent was lured to the murder scene by Willis, who said she was going to drive her car in a drag race, Scheff said.

Then, Dzvirko told detectives, they drove to a site off South Post Road, or Southwest 36th Street. They got Kent out of the car and began beating and stabbing him. Dzvirko said he helped push Kent into the water while Kent was still alive but barely hanging on.

Kent died of the stab wounds, police said.

The murder was carefully planned, Scheff said.

All the participants wore surgical rubber gloves. Twice they went back to the scene to clean up tire tracks. They threw the murder weapons into the ocean at Dania's beach, deputies said.

The attack on Kent was actually the second attempt on his life by the group, Scheff said.

"The night before they went out to the same location. Alice (Willis) had a small pistol but couldn't bring herself to do it," he said.

The motives of the suspects seem trivial, Scheff said.

Willis was Kent's ex-girlfriend and told investigators that Kent was possessive of her and had threatened to kill her, Scheff said.

"Lisa Connelly, Martin Puccio's girlfriend , asked him if he thought Bobby was strange about three weeks ago," Scheff said. "That opened the floodgates. Marty said how much he disliked Bobby and suggested they kill him." Connelly is also Dzvirko's cousin.

Bobby Kent, who graduated from South Broward High in 1992, liked to surf and lift weights, his father said. He was working in the deli at a Publix and planned to attend Broward Community College in the fall to study physical therapy.

Fred Kent is in real estate; Bobby Kent's mother, Farah, 47, is a nurse. His sister is scheduled to graduate from Florida State University in Tallahassee next week.

"Bobby was a nice young kid, a clean-cut bright kid," said family friend Marty Messinger. "Fred told me something very awful had happened. His wife screamed in the phone, 'They found the body.' That sound will stay with me the rest of my life."

Scheff said: "Everybody wants to pigeon-hole these kinds of crimes. In most murders you can do that but this one defies a category."